# Cleaned humidor with baking soda but...



## zCityGuy (May 10, 2016)

Hey guys I cleaned an old humidor I had that was showing signs of mold with a mixture of table spoon of baking soda and cup of water as mentioned on here by a few people. 

The good news is the humidor is clean and dry now, the bad news as I feared is that it has left light stains in the wood. 

My question is, are the stains purely cosmetic or will the affect the flavor and aging of my smokes???

Thanks in advance!


----------



## NormH3 (Apr 20, 2015)

I'm surprised you haven't got an answer by now and unfortunately I really don't know. I will say that I have never heard of using baking soda to clean a wooden humidor before. Typically it's used to prepare a coolidor or tupperdor.


----------



## UBC03 (Nov 18, 2015)

NormH3 said:


> I'm surprised you haven't got an answer by now and unfortunately I really don't know. I will say that I have never heard of using baking soda to clean a wooden humidor before. Typically it's used to prepare a coolidor or tupperdor.


Same here. I've heard of using a very small amount of bleach mixed with dw to kill the mold. Baking soda is used basically to get rid of odor. 
You might want to ask @WinsorHumidors.


----------



## zCityGuy (May 10, 2016)

Thanks guys, will do. Now that its been a few days and everything is nice and dry, I wiped the whole thing down last night with a damp sponge of distilled water and put some beads in to let it reset. I'll check tonight to see if the stains are still there. I can move my sticks to a tupperdor if its not looking good but obviously would rather not.

Any other insights would be very much appreciated


----------



## WinsorHumidors (Feb 16, 2016)

First, I have to inquire as to the value of the old humidor, is it a family heirloom? 

Five good sticks will cost you more than the price of a brand new humidor. 

That said:

I've never heard of baking soda used on Spanish cedar. 

Unless there is a drastic situation I tend to treat installed Spanish cedar as sacrosanct. Leave it alone ... touch it with DW only when required ... but ... baking soda? Hummmm ... I cannot see how baking soda can destroy anything ... maybe use a toothbrush dipped in DW to "scrub/wipe" the discoloration off of the SC. I doubt, highly, you have created a problem. 

Then again, treat that old humidor as a new humidor and season it as such. Wait until the end of the two weeks Boveda seasoning to make a decision. It is quite possible that your old humidor will never be able to obtain a viable humidity seal.

C. T. Blankenship


----------



## zCityGuy (May 10, 2016)

Thanks Windsor! Definitely going to watch this carefully over the next few weeks to see how everything fairs out. Appreciate the feedback guys!


----------



## zCityGuy (May 10, 2016)

Hey guys, update for y'all: after wiping down the humidor with DW the stains seem to have gone down considerably. The humidity is now holding steady at 65% thanks to some Heartfelt beads and the sticks have been placed back in (nervously). I also went down to my local B&M and got some cedar to add in as the base layer just to be on the safer side. 

We'll see what happens, the wife is getting me a new humi for father's day so I just need to hold out till then.


----------

